Programming Principles

A function must either reason or act, but never both Effectful functions cannot compute, or branch. Exceptions are hidden goto. Ethics(5) forbids hidden goto. (Axioms 2 and 7)

Nothing may fail silently, implicitly, or by escape

No exceptions for expected outcomes. No None as "maybe".

'(:ok value)
'(:error reason)

Hidden failure shifts responsibility away from structure and onto the reader. (Axiom 5)

Success and failure must travel through the system the same way. Asymmetry introduces privilege. Privilege introduces distortion.

A truth must have a single guardian

You do not check x > 0 everywhere. You encode "positive" once. All users recieve the value. Repeated checks are lies told repeatedly. Central invariants create trustable structure.

Every branch must appear in the return value

No early return that skips meaning. No exceptions to jump over logic. Hidden control flow is manipulation.Ethics(5) demands legibility over convenience.

Functions must connect, not interfere

Functions accept data, return data. They do not log or retry. Helpers that act are parasites

The world is not part of your logic

Logic does not care if input comes from a terminal, file or test. Ethics(5) assumes world = unstable. You are a pure function in an impure world(see: Functional Programming Through the Lens of a Philosopher and Linguist, Structural Purity and Moral Identity). Only structure is reliable.

A tagged union forces acknowledgment. A bare value allows neglect.

Abstraction may compress syntax, not semantics

Macros are only allowed if they expand into explicit structure.